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Dan Martillotti related some interview questions for editors...
* How do you deal with overly-sensitive writers who question most every
edit
you make, even when your edits are clearly within the specified corporate
style?
This question begs a question in return. I work every day with over 100
super egos (not all at once, every day, but you get the idea). I deal very
well with them and their documents. But the way I deal with them not only
depends on their individual personalities, but how management thinks of
editors and their role in the publication process. I would ask how an
editor fits into the process, who owns the document when it goes into
editing, and what authority do you give editors? If management thinks of
editors as just making sure the subjects and verbs agree, then all is lost
until managements is retrained. Really, I could not answer this question
until I knew how I fit into the corporation. I have run into this question
and variations on the theme in interviews. The interviewer seems
uncomfortable with my questions.
I could go into the various methods I use with my most tender of authors,
but is this what the interviewer really wants to know? What is the point to
this question? What are you trying to find out?
So my question is to the rest of you. How would you answer this question?
Roxanne Lewis
rlewis -at- smtp2 -dot- wstf -dot- nasa -dot- gov
AlliedSignal Technical Services Corp.
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